Paper's impact on the planet

Posted: 13.02.09  |  Created by: Do Something

Paper production and use in Australia consumes millions of trees and kilolitres of water. It also dramatically increases landfill and greenhouse emissions.

The usage of trucks, motorbikes and planes for delivering business mail creates significant greenhouse emissions. The electricity used to power printers, faxes and photocopiers also create emissions that contribute to climate change.

Did you know…

…millions of trees are used to make printing and writing paper?

• according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, one tonne of virgin paper production requires two or three times that weight in trees.(1)

…massive quantities of water are used to make paper?

• millions of kilolitres are used in paper production every year.

…paper waste is a big contributor to Australia's landfill?

• hundreds of thousands of tonnes are thrown away every year

• a single tonne of paper takes up about five cubic metres of landfill (2)

• due to paper printing,  18 million printer cartridges end up in Australia's landfill every year (3)

…paper production has a big effect on greenhouse emissions?

• it creates hundreds of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse emissions every year (4)

• one tonne of paper production results in 1.36 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions excluding methane (4)

References: 

(1) Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
(2) Michigan DEQ
(3) Planet Ark
(4) A3P

Read some great tips on how to reduce your paper usage.

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